Aakash Educational Services Ltd AESL denies reports that edtech giant Byju s has delayed payments for the nearly $1 billion acquisition of the former.
The AESL spokesperson said these reports were not based on true facts.
Several media reports had recently claimed that Byju s had sought an extension for payments to some of the investors of Blackstone-backed AESL. The shareholders of Aakash, including the founding family and private equity firm Blackstone, were due to receive payments this week, but the edtech company has sought a two-month extension, per reports. Reports also claimed that Blackstone may serve a legal notice to Byju s for non-payment.
Byju s, valued at $22 billion currently, denied any payment delays and said the acquisition process is on track.
Aakash is our most successful acquisition to date and we are proud to have them in our fold. The acquisition process of Aakash is fully on track and all payments are expected to be completed by the agreed upon date i.e. A Byju s spokesperson said that they continue to be well poised to provide access to quality education in all learning segments from early learning to exam prep and career success.
In April of last year, the Bengaluru-based decacorn, which is India's most valued start-up, acquired the brick-and- mortar test preparation firm in a deal worth $950 million.
The stock- and- cash deal, the biggest of Byju's so far, helped the company fortify presence in the test preparation segment in India. AESL provides testing preparatory services for medical and engineering entrance exams, school board exams, KVPY, NTSE, Olympiads, and other foundation level exams.
After the completion of the deal, Byju s had announced that it would make further investments in AESL for its expansion. In December, Aakash said it will add 100 more centres across Tier 3, 4 towns in the country in 2022. Over 250 offline centres were operated by AESL in India.